Recurrence of perforation and overall patient survival after penetrating keratoplasty versus amniotic membrane transplantation in corneal perforation

Purpose The following is a comparative analysis on the treatment outcomes of corneal perforations using amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) or penetrating keratoplasty (PK). Methods This monocentric retrospective study was performed at the Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Ulm, Germany. A total of 78 eyes of 78 patients were included. Thirty-nine eyes received an AMT, and 39 patients were treated with a PK. Primary outcome was recurrence of perforation. Secondary outcomes were patient mortality and visual acuity. Results No statistically significant difference was observed with regard to a recurrence of perforation between the two groups (26% in AMT vs 23% in PK, p > 0.99). The time of recurrences was within the first two years and did not differ statistically ( p = 0.97). In addition, a proportional hazards model with cox regression regarding recurrent perforation showed no significant differences ( p = 0.5). After AMT, 41% and after KP, 28% of the patients died during follow-up ( p = 0.2), respectively. The Charlson Comorbidity Index ( p